Computer networks are linked computers and computer devices (such as peripheral devices) that are used to obtain, manipulate, and transfer digital data. As a result, a computer network is a highly important communication medium. A computer network may be used for text, audio, video, and graphics data. They are becoming an increasingly popular tool for institutions such as corporations, governmental entities, etc., in terms of providing word processing, graphics, e-mail, etc. As institutional use increases, there is an increasing need for computer networks that provide not only computer services to multiple users, but also provide computer services over multiple locations.
Another increasingly popular type of digital device is a wireless device, such as cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDA), laptop or notebook computers, pagers, etc. These wireless devices are generally small, light-weight, and portable. They use battery power and may be carried with the user. They generally communicate with a fixed wireless infrastructure, such as a cellular telephone network infrastructure, for example. Alternatively, the infrastructure may be a satellite or satellite wireless network, a wireless modem, a wireless modem network, etc.
Such wireless devices may be connected to a computer network in various ways. In the prior art, the simplest approach has been to connect via a wire harness. For example, a laptop computer may be physically connected to a land-based computer network.
However, a wire harness has several drawbacks. One drawback is that the user has to find an available port. Therefore, the computer network that the user is trying to connect to must include extra ports for such a purpose and a port must be available at the time the user wants to connect to it. Another drawback is that there is no mobility for the user while the device is connected. Furthermore, a wire or harness connection may require a user to stop whatever he or she is doing and look for an access port.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art network 100 having a wireless access capability. In this figure, the wireless device 103 is connected to a wireless modem 104, with the wireless modem 104 being further connected to a dedicated server 105. The server 105 is connected to a computer network 106 (or computer intranetwork (intranet), i.e., one or more networks interconnected within an entity, such as a corporation, etc.). The computer network 106 may additionally be connected to the Internet 108 via a proxy 107. The proxy 107 may perform protocol conversion, etc.
Alternatively, instead of the wireless modem 104 being directly connected to the server 105, the wireless modem 104 may be connected through the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) via a telephone line to the server 105. This provides a low speed access through a dial-up service provider, with the dial-up service provider furnishing the server 105.
There are several drawbacks to this prior art arrangement. The dial up and connect time using the wireless modem 104 is slow and may be frustrating. In addition, the user may be subjected to the limited availability of the wireless modem 104. Moreover, the wireless device 103 may be out of the service provider's area, and therefore the connection to the wireless modem 104 may be costly if the user has to pay for long distance connect charges (such as through a cellular infrastructure, for example).
FIG. 2 shows another prior art network 200 having a wireless access capability. In this arrangement, the wireless device 103 communicates with a base station 220 that is a component of a wireless network 231. The base station 220 may be, for example, a cellular infrastructure base station and the wireless network 231 may be a cellular telephone network. The wireless network 231 is connected to a generic service node 234 and remote proxy 235. The remote proxy 235 again may communicate with the Internet 108 (or other networks). The wireless device 103 may therefore communicate with the Internet 108 (or other network) through the wireless network 231 and the base station 220.
This prior art approach also has several drawbacks. First, the wireless device 103 must be within the service area of a base station 220. Furthermore, the wireless network 231 must be able to communicate with a proxy 235 that can communicate with both the Internet 108 and the wireless network 231. In addition, the user of the wireless device 103 must have an account with the service provider of the wireless network 231. Therefore, the user needs a prior arrangement for service (i.e., the user of the wireless device 103 must subscribe to one or more wireless service providers). Furthermore, the user has no control over whether the wireless infrastructure is available and may suffer from slow access if communication traffic is heavy. Moreover, the user must still have an account in order to access the Internet 108, as communication with the wireless network does not guarantee Internet access without a prior arrangement.
The prior art approaches therefore provide network access by providing a wireless communication device that is linked to a network interface device that communicates with the computer network. This adds an extra layer of complexity to a network access operation and as a result adds extra time to the access operation. In addition, the access operation may still be less than optimal, as the user of the wireless device 103 may first have to perform a login operation with the network interface device and then perform another login operation with the network.
Therefore, there remains a need in the art for improvements in wireless device access to computer networks.